Compact medical pumps are highly portable, which reduces the need to limit their use to a clinical setting for many medical treatments. Compact medical pumps are generally cheaper than larger, clinical counterparts such that it is cost effective to use them in more treatments. For example, administering a drug using a pump instead of a number of injections spaced apart in time results in a more consistent treatment, which is often more effective and therefore cost effective as well. Concealing a medical pumping apparatus in the clothing of a patient allows the patient to discretely receive a continuous medical treatment at any time and in any place. Some medical fluids, such as insulin, require administering only a small amount of fluid to effectively treat the patient. A syringe pump for such fluids encloses a reservoir of fluid (e.g., a vial or cassette) and is small enough to conceal in the clothing of the patient. But other medical fluids (e.g., a feeding solution) must be supplied to a patient in larger quantities to effectively treat the patient. For example, a syringe pump that encloses a reservoir having such a relatively large volume of fluid is not easily concealable in the patient's clothing.